expect anyone who seeks the highest office in our land would meet that standard. we here know the constitution is not a relic from our past, but determines whether we are a country where the people can speak freely and even kret size the president without fear of being thrown in jail or targeted by the military. [ applause ]president without f thrown in jail or targeted by the military. [ applause ]the president witho being thrown in jail or targeted by the military. [ applause ]president without f thrown in jail or targeted by the military. [ applause ]the president witho being thrown in jail or targeted by the military. [ applause ] >> where the people can choose without the government interfering. [ applause ] where you can vote without fear that your vote will be thrown away. [ applause ]

all of this and more depends on whether or not our leaders honor their oaths to the constitution. i have sworn an oath to uphold the constitution six times including as vice president, as a united states senator and as the top law enforcement officer of the largest state in our country. [ cheers and applause ] >> and i have never waivered from upholding that oath, and this is a profound difference between donald trump and me. he, who violated the oath to uphold the constitution of the united states and make no mistake, he who if given the chance, will violate it again. donald trump lost the 2020 election. [ cheers and applause ]

>> and he refused to accept the will of the people and the results of a free and fair election. he sent a mob, an armed mob to the united states' capital where they violently assaulted police officers, law enforcement officials and threatened the life of his own vice president, and he refused to engage in the peaceful transfer of power. were it not for the courage and patriotism of vice president pence that day, donald trump might have actually succeeded in overturning the will of the american people.

let's reflect on that, and now donald trump is telling us how he intends to use power if he is elected again. he has stated that one of the biggest threats america faces is, quote, the enemy from within. [ audience booing ] >> the enemy from within, but know where that language harkens back to. understand, and let us be clear about what he is saying. he considers any american who doesn't support him or bend to his will to be an enemy to our country, and further, he says

that as commander in chief, he would use our military to go after them. honestly, let that sink in. use of the american military to go after american citizens? and you know who he would target first because he's targeted them and attacked them before, journalists, the stories he doesn't like, non-partisan election officials who refuse to cheat by finding extra votes for him, judges who insist on following the law instead of following him. it is clear, donald trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged. [ applause ]

>> and he is seeking unchecked power. consider what his closest advisers have said, his national security adviser, two defense secretaries, his former chief of staff, his own vice president all have warned america donald trump is unfit to serve or listen to general milley. donald trump's top general. he has called trump, and i quote, fascist to the core, and said, quote no one has ever been as dangerous to this country. so think about that, general

milley served in uniform for more than 40 years, commanding american forces around the world. he has confronted some of america's worst enemies, and he is saying no one has ever been as dangerous to our country as donald trump. america must heed this warning because anyone who tramples on our democratic values as donald trump has, anyone who has called for the, quote, termination of the constitution of the united states as donald trump has, must never again stand behind the

seal of the president of the united states! [ cheers and applause ] never again! never again! [ applause ] >> and to those -- and to those who are watching, if you share that view, no matter your party, no matter who you voteded for last time, there is a place for you in this campaign. [ cheers and applause ] >> the coalition we have built has room for everyone who is ready to turn the page on the chaos and instability of donald

trump, and i pledge to you to be a president for all americans. [ cheers and applause ] >> and i take that pledge seriously. i take that pledge quite seriously. so as i've mentioned, many of you know, i've spent a career as a prosecutor in law enforcement, and i tell you, i never asked a victim or a witness, are you a republican or are you a democrat? i never asked of anyone who needed help if anyone who deserved attention where were they registered and who did they vote for? the only question i ever asked was are you okay? and that is the kind of president i pledge to you that i will be. [ cheers and applause ]

that is my pledge to you. because we have too much to do, and too much good work to do to be relegated, to -- to requiring each of us to be in some silo disconnected from each other. there's too much good to be done, and the challenges that we face as a nation require us if we truly want to create solutions and strengthen our nation, the approach truly requires that we understand we're all in this together. this is so much more than rhetoric or a campaign. [ cheers and applause ] >> it really is about tapping into the spirit of who we are as americans because we are all in this together. we are all in this together, and

so i pledge to be a president who actively works to unite us, around our highest aspirations. i pledge to you to be a president who is realistic and practical and has common sense, and to always fight for the american people. [ cheers and applause ] >> unlike donald trump who, frankly, as we have seen cares more about running on problems than fixing problems. i want to fix problems which means working across the aisle. it requires working across the aisle. it requires embracing good ideas from wherever they come.

that is why i have pledged to appoint a republican in my cabinet. [ cheers and applause ] that is why i have pledged to establish a council on bipartisan solutions to recommend to me common sense solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing our country. [ cheers and applause ] >> because nobody has a corner on the good ideas. they actually come from many places and one should -- especially if they want to be a leader, one should welcome those ideas, and those ideas that are in particular about strengthening the middle class, securing our border, defending our freedoms and maintaining our leadership in the world. [ applause ]

>> and all of this is to also say that i believe for america to be the world's strongest democracy, we must have a healthy two-party system. [ applause ] because it is when we have a healthy two-party system that leaders are then required to debate the merits of approximately policy and yes, to work across the aisle regularly and routinely to get things done, and i have experienced first hand how important and rewarding that kind of bipartisan cooperation can be. so i'll tell you, when i was the united states senator i served on the senate intelligence committee. it was actually my favorite committee, for a number of reasons, but specifically this, there we dealt with some of the

most pressing issues affecting national security, there we would talk about hot spots around the world and what we needed to do to focus on keeping america safe and secure, and to do that, we would review classified information which required us to meet in a secure room. adam, you know, it's called a skiff. okay. when we would go in that room, with all due respect, no cameras were allowed. no press, and we would roll up our sleeves and get to work. i tell you, senators of both parties would walk in that room, take off their jackets, roll up their sleeves and have a cup of coffee at the table and we would have real conversations, real conversations as americans

because we understood that what happened in that room, while the stakes were so high and therefore it could not be, we could not afford to let it be about whether one was a democrat or a republican. the stakes were too high. we were in that room and it was all about us as americans, about doing what is in the best interest of the safety and the security of our nation. i loved that work, and it was what we have is the theme of today. it was country over party in action. in action. [ applause ] so i know it can be done, and that is the standard of leadership and the aspiration that i have in terms of how we will work when with your help i am elected president of the united states. [ cheers and applause ]

>> thank you. thank you. [ audience chanting "kamala" ] >> let me just say there is a very fundamental choice in this election, a very fundamental choice, a choice between the leadership that i pledge to offer to america, leadership that brings folks together that builds consensus and focuses on making life better for you with the knowledge that we have so much more in common than what separates us and on the other hand, the choice of someone who i think we can guarantee will sit in the oval office plotting retribution, stew in his own

grievances and think only about himself and not you. so as i have said, our campaign is not a fight against something. it is a fight for something. it is a fight -- [ applause ] >> -- for the fundamental principles upon which we were founded. it is a fight for a new generation of leadership that is optimistic about what we can achieve together. republicans, democrats and independents who want to move past the politics of division and blame and get things done on behalf of the american people, and when it all comes down to it, i know we are all here together this beautiful afternoon because we love our

country. we love our country. [ cheers and applause ] >> and we are here because we know the deep privilege and pride that comes with being an american, and the duty that comes along with it. and the duty that comes along with it. imperfect though we may be, america is still that shining city upon a hill that inspires people around the world, and i do believe it is one of the highest forms of patriotism to fight for the ideals of our country. so -- to people from across pennsylvania and across our

nation, let us together stand up for the rule of law, for our democratic ideals and for the constitution of the united states and in 20 days, we have the power to chart a new way forward, one that is worthy of this magnificent country that we are all blessed to call home. thank you all. may god bless you and may god bless the united states of america. ♪♪ ♪♪ >> hi there, everyone. that was vice president kamala harris in bucks county, pennsylvania, at a site chock full of symbolism and history, miles from where george washington crossed the delaware river during the american revolution, the vice president making some history of her own

today building on what has been an unprecedented reach across the political aisle and the political divide, something people thought hardened beyond repair in this country until kamala harris' presidential campaign sprung out this summer, republicans who have been left behind by the gop's capitulation to donald trump and transformation into the arm of an authoritarian movement have flocked to her candidacy. she was joineded by per than 100 republicans, that includes former republican congressman and the january 6th select committee adam kinzinger and former georgia lieutenant governor both who had primetime speak roles in her convention. the vice president's message to republican voters today looking to turn the page on the chaos of donald trump and his very explicit and specific plans now to rule as an authoritarian should he win in november and that's where we start today.

democratic strategist and pollster msnbc political journalist cornell belcher is here and ruth bengia is here, chief political columnist and host of the podcast joel halliman, i'll start with you. there's something like a finger in the socket for me when i hear the democratic nominee lifting up and celebrating the courage and patriotism of mike pence, someone who served loyally. you can say one thing about mike pence is this he served almost sycophantically for donald trump all four years except for two hours, one day, and it is a day that led to a threat against his family and the mission of hanging mike pence was the chant heard around the world on that day, but it was vice president

harris today who used these words about republican mike pence, quote, were it not for the courage and patriotism of mike pence. that was just a stunning thing to hear, john. >> well, certainly nothing, nicole, you would have heard for all that period of time that you talked about up until january 6th and in fact, you wouldn't have heard from democrats even for a long time after january 6th, and i guarantee that there are democrats out there who feel uncomfortable about it now and were not happy to see kamala harris with liz cheney and with kinzinger and mike pence. any democrat who is really commit to the notion that this election has existential states and that kamala harris must win this election should be applauding her for doing what she's doing right now because we are in that place of the campaign where as david plot who has been out in public in a way

he never is has talked about that the argument for how to get out of this -- for how kamala harris rises above this deadlocked race and manages to pull it out is on the notion that donald trump's ceiling is lower than hers. hers is higher than his, just enough and in that gap between his ceiling at 48, 48.5 and hers at 49 not 50, 50.5, there are key demographics of available voters and some of those are lapsed republicans who do not want to vote for donald trump and never will and she has not yet closed the sale with and she is trying to do that and this is the way to win. whatever you think about mike pence, this is the way for kamala harris to win the election, and i think every democrat who doesn't like it has to hold their nose and say, all right. >> that is, i'm sure, the case, cornell, but i hear from as many

democrats who just want to see her win and want to see her win with the kind of mandate that has a coalition that maybe should have some effect should kamala harris prevail as joe biden did in 2020 and need to have a bipartisan megaphone to call for calm in the country. i mean, it seems like not just a political advantage. her numbers among white college-educated men, not women, men. she has 59% of them and donald trump has not even all of the rest, most of the rest. the margins that she's building up it does look a lot like the obama coalition and speck to what john ham is making and her embrace of the bipart sap and support creates cross pressures for her. >> well, look, i don't want to think of this in partisan, political terms and the

campaigns especially at the presidential level have been hard partisan contests and i think historically what you see in hard partisan contests is, speaking of that obama coalition, right? that hard partisan contrast, 51%, right? biden, 51%, but i lean into something, nicole, that you and i have talked about many times on this show and that is a different kind of coalition. that is the democracy coalition and the coalition that's for democracy, and i think when i hear this speech and i hear her lean in to reaching across the aisle and talking about republicans and reaching across the aisle and praising republicans and trying to pull republicans in in a very different way, you see the republicans who are coming out for her. i think she has the potential to have a coalition that quite, frankly, doesn't even look like the obama coalition and it's

probably broader than the obama coalition which i thought if you look at the democrats' ability to win here, you have three elections out of what? the last four or five elections where democrats have gotten 51%, been able to get the majority and a little over 51% for obama. i think if this coalition comes together, it's a big if. if this coalition comes together it's more tan 51. i think it puts more places in play than either baden or obama can do in a typical convention, it's begger than a d versus r, but something you've been talking about for a long time and that is a coalition of those who are for democracy. >> ruth, a lot of what i understand about how countries are on the edge of the knife, the study of a slide to

autocracy is these edge of the knife moments and the successful always -- the successful offramping always entails a bipartisan or a multi-party coalition that says no to that jump off the cliff into autocracy. tell me what you see when you see the democratic nominee surrounded by members who, she pointed out. she said explicitly. normally to be surrounded by all of these republicans isn't something that i would do 19 days out from the election, but she made this point. donald trump is talking about using the american military to go after americans, and you know who he's going to target, journalists whose stories he doesn't like. non-partisan election officials who don't respond to his efforts to find more votes and judges whose ruling he doesn't like, a coalition of people who are against those things.

>> absolutely, and it's actually really exciting to see because we know from the study of successful, you know, confrontations with autocracy is you need the multi-party coalition. so we only have the two parties, so what she's doing first through republicans for harris and now having over 100 republicans on her side talking about crossing the line and country over party, and to build on what cornell was saying, what we're seeing is the assem blaj of dmitri see in america because our democracy was threatened as it never has before and vice president harris was extremely eloquent about this and it was important to stop and think about that language about enemies within because it's not just immigrants, it's not just journalists or judges. it's also political opponents and she said, anyone who does

not agree with donald trump or who criticizes him becomes an enemy, and it was also very important to cite general milley saying that trump is fascist to the core, and you know, this raises the specter of using the u.s. military which is the dictators that i've written about, pinochet, and others. so this was a terrific speech, and she's holding the key with the country over party and the appearances with important republicans to build the kind of coalition that has been said goes way beyond what has been done before and in that sense is the answer to our current emergency. >> john, the section that i think that liz is talking about, she ticks off all of the people who have described donald trump as unfit. she lists two former secretaries of defense for donald trump, former vice president mike

pence, his former chief of staff, john kelly and jon bolton and she lands on milley and quotes him in the book of bob woodward, point out if any of this isn't true, but his position as reported by bob woodward is that the vice president said that donald trump is fascist to the core, and this, that, quote, no one has ever been as dangerous to our country as donald trump. there's been sort of a when will they endorse harris? we are almost at post. what she needs them for is the indictment of donald trump and she's got it, and she put that in the speech today with great effects surrounded by 100 republicans who have endorsed her. again, she seems to be putting these pieces together to make this case in the most forceful way she's made it to date. >> well, i think that's right, nicole. one of the things that you've

seen -- i believe it's wednesday today, right? wednesday. it's about the time in the campaign when i start losing track of the days of the week. i believe it's wednesday. it all sort of mushes together. you've seen's hard turn for her for vice president harris just in this week, right? because we have gone along. we definitely -- we are no longer in the joy campaign. we are in the hard contrast campaign, and i applaud it. it's the right thing to be doing and they came to the point in the campaign where she needs to remind people of the stakes in the election, and so we've seen her since sunday adopting a lot of the rhetoric that joe biden was when he made his democracy arguments last spring in the period of time when she was introducing herself to the country that she wasn't making. so the woodward book and some of these other outspoken

republicans who have come out especially from the national security world could not come at a better time for her. i want to say something about this coalition, if you want, and i'm not saying you are saying this, but there will be people who say the polls are all 100% wrong and throw them out. i will tell you if you lock at the polling, the high-quality pollsters and i've been staring at these until my eyes are crossed, donald trump is still getting 95% or 96% of the vote he got in 2020. we are not talking about some wholesale restructuring of the american electorate here. we are talking about, and i will tell you that inside the harris campaign, they are trying to get to a win number in the battleground states and that number is around 50%. they can win the election with that, and i think the notions of trying to -- the notions of a

see decision, but this is not going to be the margins that barack obama had in 2008. she's not going to be at 53 or 56. i'm not saying that as a great expert. there's no one that believes he'll be at 52, 53, 54% where donald trump will get almost everyone who voted for him in 2020 despite mike milley, despite january 6th, he'll get 95%, 96% of those people will come back and cast a ballot for him in 2024. >> cornell, if you work at a campaign and you take what john heilemann said, you need and you want everyone to believe that, and it may be true. the truth is -- there was no red mirage and every smart, good poll predicted that, as well.

so nobody knows everything about anything, and john heilemann is probably exactly correct and that is exactly what you need, your possible potential coalition to believe. no one person can believe that they can stay home and everything can be okay. every one person -- you have to believe in the agency of your vote, and i -- i talked to someone on the campaign this morning saying you need to put ted lasso on the bus and believe it. the truest thing about politics is nothing is predetermined and as we sit here nothing is tomorrowed or all. their some already voting and you need that you can and will wen, and you have to admit that every vote marys and whether we remain a democracy or not is whether you had a babysitter could stay an our or two late

because you didn't know how long the lines were at the polls, where you had the time to wait in line, whether you made sure your absentee ballot came, and whether you signed the inside envelope and it's not as obvious as it seems and this belief that it's this close is based on all of the data available and that data may or may not be true, but it is imperative for harris to communicate that to every single member of a possible winning coalition. >> look, i think that's right. no one wins modern elections by 56% in the country. that's just not realistic. we are not built that way as a country in the modern era and certainly not built that way when you look at battleground -- when you look at battleground states. what i will say is she does have the potential to have a broader coalition than barack obama had

in 2012 and joe biden had in 2020. i think there is a real potential of that, but will it be 55%? 56%? of course it won't. you don't win elections by that margin. in america, and the other part about this is it is a quality of the data and someone who is on this nbc and msnbc air saying there is no red wave coming because there is no data, it is about what the electorate will look like and what i said before, nicole and you can look at who is voting right now. i'm in georgia today, and you look at the astonishing number of people who are early voting in georgia and you look at the enthusiasm and women have been registering at higher rates. we're not goinging to have the 2020 election, and anyone who says they know what it will look like on election day i will say stop talking like that because they don't know what they're

talking about, and as a pollster, that's the key thing. it's the science and the art and the art is trying to figure out what the electorate is. i'm telling you right now if you have the model as a 2020 electorate you will be off by a kully of points. that said, should she be right to a certain extent? there are democrats who say why is she reaching out to republicans? because she has the opportunity to build a different and broader kind of coalition and that is very helpful in some of these state that have been historically red. looking at the polling from the day. i think quinnipiac has the poll out today that has her polling ahead in north carolina. assure you that is a traditionally red state and she has to be a different candidate who went at some of these red areas, and i think she's doing that. >> we're going to keep this conversation going. we are deep in the weeds with three people who know all of

this better than just about anybody. i want to bring in another person to this conversation. one of the republicans who joined the vice president on stage. i have to sneak in a quick break. we'll be right back. eak in a quk break. we'll be right back. pilates? so i started my own studio. getting a brick and mortar in new york is not easy. chase ink has supported us from studio one to studio three. when you start small, you need some big help. and chase ink was that for me. earn up to 5% cash back on business essentials with the chase ink business cash card from chase for business. make more of what's yours. every member of the military is tested for mental fitness except the commander in chief, who has the most responsibility in the world. and when a moment of crisis strikes, is this what we want in a president? unsure. - the origins of the uh... unstable. - hamas terrorist invasion... unpredictable. - anonymous... it's time every president is required

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and we know who he would target first because he has targeted them and attacked them before -- journalists for stories he doesn't like, non-partisan election officials

who refuse to cheat by finding extra votes for him, judges who insist on following the law instead of following him. >> turning our coverage, former virginia congressman barbara comstock is here. she joined the vice president in pennsylvania. barbara, the speech was -- sort of in this new mold, right? almost a post-partisan moment in our politics. you've been part of that moment. tell me how the speech landed with you. >> i think it was very well received here. you have a lot of women, a lot of veterans here. this is a suburban area that, as you know, when we worked on the bush campaign was an area with a lot of republicans, but these are the kind of people who voted for nikki haley, but they're not going back. they're not going to vote for donald trump and the vice

president has a great message for these disaffected republicans that she wants to be open to bring the country together, doing things like supporting, you know, our allies overseas, supporting families with the child tax credit that george bush expanded and now she wants to expand more. she wants to support our election officials, something that i work on with the national council on election integrity, a bipartisan group, and i know governor shapiro here in pennsylvania appointed a republican to make sure the elections are secure here and unfortunately, that was a gentleman who got death threats from donald trump in the last election. so republicans want to turn the page. they're sick of the kind of nonsense that donald trump has -- a sore loser from the last election and we really do need to turn the page, support the rule of law, support the

constitution in this, you know, commonwealth of pennsylvania and they're ready for that change. >> barbara comstock, with the anti-trump republican movement used to exist. a few people who tweeted each other on twitter in 2015 and 2016 and signal chats and hidden bars, it is now a political movement that shares the stage with the vice president of the united states. i wonder if you can speak -- you mentioned josh shapiro, i think that was al schmit, the republican election official who stood up for the rule of law and received death threats from republicans and i wonder if you can define as the way you've seen it as the coalition have the shadows on to center stage and lifted up not by a republican, but by the democratic nominee for president, kamala harris. >> well, she's talked about wanting a republican in her

administration. she wants a policy council where she has republicans and independents giving her policy advice, so i think this is -- you know, we know that congress i think is probably going to go to the democrats, but whatever it is, it's going to be close, it's going to be whatever happens in the senate. looks like it will be republican and it's going to be close and she wants to bring the country together and so this is somebody who is going to work on a bipartisan basis, something we know donald trump never wanted to do, which is why he wasn't able to get much done. so she's going to start at the outset by doing this, and i think that's why people are responding to her message and why she's going to be able to close strong, and i think there are a lot of women, a lot of veterans, really -- it's coming together here in these closing days. >> former republican congresswoman has been sounding the alarm over these national security issues, barbara

comstock, thank you very much for talking to us. >> i'm not hearing you. >> thank you. ruth bengia, i wonder if you can speak to and speak on the line that created tension and what sarah has been talking about for a long time which is permission structure on top of permission structure for the nikki haley voter, for the i like republican stuff, but i don't like what i saw on january 6th. talk about all this exists that didn't exist in 2020 for voters who may be looking for a political home who sort of felt alienated in the past from the parties? >> yeah. it's important to talk about this because we have never had a president like former president trump who really was an authoritarian leader with a robust personality cult and it's really, you're either with me

and for me or you're the enemy and that has applied most of all to his party. it is very good that vice president harris mentioned the praise that vice president pence paid for disobeying trump after just -- after loyally supporting him for so long because your loyalty to an authoritarian is proved every hour, every minute and you get no credit for what you did before and that is an introduction to why it is so difficult for republican voters, whether they have an office or not to go upon against maga and how they can feel even among their own communities of maga supporters that it's dangerous and unpleasant to leave the fold and these are cult dynamics because donald trump has a cult, and so it is very important to give them a space, give them permission and give them options. so what harris is doing by

saying explicitly, there is a lace for you, this will be a bipartisan administration in spirit. i will be the president of all americans and this picks up on the biden theme, but very important right now to give people a feeling that they will have a new political home because they're very scared right now because this is the problem with only having two matters that are challenged with respect to other countries that have faced autocratic threats. >> ruth bengia, cornell belcher, and john heilemann, thank you for spending time with us. we are grateful. up next we will issue joined by capitol police officer harry dunn. stay with us.

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♪ you don't...you don't have to worry... ♪ ♪ be by your side... i'll be there... ♪ ♪ with my arms wrapped around... ♪ the election. will you commit now to respecting and encouraging a peaceful transfer of power? >> well, you had a peaceful transfer of power. >> we lost the line. we lost the line. all pds step back. all pds step back up to the upper deck. all pds step back up to the upper deck. >> and it was love and peace. and some people went to the capitol. and a lot of strange things happened there. hundreds of thousands of people. and i don't know whether you had 5, 6, 700 people go down to the

capitol. >> we can't hold this. too many [ bleep ] people. >> love in the air. i never seen anything like it. love in the air. what was it donald trump said to rally his supporters in 2018, quote, what you're seeing and what your reading is not what is happening. look at me. believe me, he told them. seems like he was making the case for moments like these. joining our coverage, former capitol police officer, author of "standing my ground" a capitol police officer's fight. harry dunn is here. harry dunn, how are you feeling about things? >> hey, nicole. good to talk to you. i'm encouraged. i've had the opportunity to be out with the harris campaign, being out on the ground, going across the country, hitting these battleground states multiple times. and the energy, the vibes are incredible. it's palpable out there. i'm really excited.

it started out as an opportunity just to stop -- to stop vote against donald trump. but now we looking at it, we have an opportunity to vote for kamala harris. it's not just a referendum against donald trump. that part was easy. now getting out there to support kamala harris is just so exciting. the hope that she brings going forward in this country. >> harry, you and i have ridden some of the roller coasters emotionally of the lack of accountability in the american criminal justice system for donald trump's conduct. and the pathetic display from one of the two political parties in america. a bright spot, for me at least, has been coffering liz cheney and adam kinzinger who gave up their roles in congress to use this day to say enough, right? the fever breaks here. i'm out. to see them both on the trail for vice president kamala harris, as you said, not just making an argument against trump but making a forceful argument

for her, feels like something that maybe the polls pick up, maybe it doesn't. but it feels different. and i wonder how that feels for you. >> well, yeah. you just mentioned those two -- those are two of my favorite republicans in congress. obviously because they stand up and they have a backbone. but just think about -- and you also backtrack real quick. you just mentioned the institutions, the failing to get accountability for us. look at the house of representatives, the individuals that voted to impeach donald trump. none of them, none, are in congress anymore. so, these institutions that have failed us, the senate failed us, the supreme court failed us. but how fitting is it that there's one more fail safe in this election going forward, to stop donald trump. it's we the people. so, it's encouraging on november 5th that we have an opportunity to stop him. and we couldn't do it without people like liz cheney, like adam kinzinger, like barbara

comstock who you just had on that are willing to stand up and put country over party. it's so important right now. and yes, when i testified before the january 6th committee, i asked the question, is this america? because you know, january 6th showed the darkest sides of america. but, yeah, and then showing how close this election is in the midst of all of that, i guess it really is america. but there is an opportunity for us to have a different path going forward. and that's kamala harris. >> tell me what your message is, sort of one on one. i know there's a lot of focus on the male vote. what's the pitch that you make to anyone you meet on the campaign trail about what -- how stark their choice sand how consequential every single vote is. >> well, a lot of times i get the opportunity to meet out there with the people that are -- that have said, hey, i've never been involved in elections before. i'm out here canvassing, i'm out here door knocking, i'm out here

volunteering to work at the polls. people that are just energized to be out there. but, the choice could not be more clear going forward. we have this guy. republicans are known for fear mongering and scaring people. first there was dei and then it's banning books and all this different stuff or whatever. donald trump is saying in his own words what he's going to do. that he'll be a dictator on day one. that he wants to terminate the constitution. this isn't a nicole wallace or harry dunn talking point. those are donald trump's own words. so, letting people know his own words, no, this isn't stuff that we made up. press play, run the tape and show you where he said that. and people, they don't like it. they're afraid of it. and he's doing the fear mongering himself. and the harris campaign is just amplifying his messages. and it's kind of like he's his own worst enemy. that's one of the reasons why we

can't have him. >> i mean, even saying nothing at all, best message against him. we played 38 minutes of the swearing yesterday. harry dunn, do me this favor, next time you're on the trail, dial in. i want to hear what you're seeing and folks are saying to you. it's great to talk to you today. thank you so much for being here. >> always. it's been too long. we'll talk soon. >> talk soon. still ahead for us, after the aforementioned bonkers 38 minutes of swaying and bopping kind of to the beat, sometimes, yesterday. today, donald trump called himself, wait for it, the, quote, father of ivf. we'll take another look at the ex-president showing us exactly who he is and how many of the lights are and are not on these days. the next hour of "deadline white house" after a quick break. don't go anywhere. break don't go anywhere. that's a different story. i couldn't slow down.

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♪♪ i think character is what a person does when they're under pressure. it is a combination of their deep seeded beliefs, the things, their core values and the discipline they have to execute those, to live up to them. so i think when we look at kamala harris, we look at her history. she came up as a prosecutor, an attorney general, into the senate. she has lived a number of experiences that i think build in someone the kind of character that's going to be necessary in the presidency. hi again, everybody. it's 5:00 in new york. that's the choice before all of us, the voters, in november. a choice of character.

whose character we want in the office of the american presidency. and what we are seeing before our very eyes, yes, we can still believe them, with just 20 days to go, are those two very distinct displays of human character on full display, technicolor, frankically. vice president kamala harris in just one hour will be putting herself in the visitor's dugout, potentially unfriendly territory. she'll be appearing on fox news, paid almost a billion dollars to settle their election lies about 2020 to dominion. she'll be on that network to showcase how she will walk the walk of what she's pledged to do, which is to be the president of all americans. meanwhile, donald trump's character is on display as well. and it is increasingly, if that's even possible, unhinged at many points incoherent and inexplicable. he was on fox news speaking on a

town hall in a woman in a county of georgia where he won 65% of the vote in 2020. this is what he said. >> and ivf, you had mentioned before ivf. >> i believe that's what this is about. >> i want to talk about ivf. i'm the father of ivfs. i want to hear this question. >> although abortion does lie with the states, what is your stance on that and what would you say to those women? >> so, i got a call from katie brit, a young, just a fantastically attractive person from alabama. she's a senator. and she called me up like emergency, emergency. because in alabama judge ruled the ivf clinics were illegal and have to be closed down. a judge ruled. she said friends of mine came up to me and they were, oh, they were so angry. i didn't even know they were going -- they were -- it's fertilization. i didn't know they were involved. nobody talks about it. they don't talk about it. now they can't do it, she said i was attacked in a certain way, i

was attacked. i said, explain ivf very quickly. and within about two minutes i understood it. i said, no, no. we're totally in favor of ivf. i came out with a statement within an hour, a really powerful statement with some experts, really powerful and we went totally in favor. the republican party, the whole party. alabama legislature a day later overturned, meaning approved it,over turned the judge essentially, approved it. we really are the party for ivf. we want fertilization and it's all the way. and the democrats tried to attack us on it. and we're out there on ivf even more than them. so we're totally in favor of it. >> i would be here until 8 if i had to fact check all of that. i will get to some of it. it's nonsense, just complete and utter nonsense. we played it for you in full because if that's what you're after, 19 days to go, we don't

want you to see a different version around fox. we want you to see all of that starting with the fantastically attractive person who explained ivf to him in two hours. -- two minutes. i'm sorry. now, this self-proclaimed, quote, very stable genius, calling him the, quote, father of fertility, ivf, which started in 1978, mind you. something he admitted to learning about on a phone call from this attractive senator in two minutes. that's where we are. in the same town hall he also doubles down on his comment that kamala harris highlighted in the last hour. his description of anyone who disagrees with him politically or on policy matter is part of the, quote, enemy within our country. and then he talked about making donuts, the things you eat. well, at least i eat. when talking about energy production. and then at a rally last night, he went into this rant about vice president kamala harris.

>> did you see when her teleprompter crashed last night. she was talking about 32 days, mr. congressman. 32. she goes, and the election will be in 32 days. 32 days. the teleprompter crashed. 32 days. she kept -- oh. i would have loved to -- you know, kicked back in. kick back. like some people know a lot about a kickback. it's called a kickback. they know in this administration. but no, it's a kickback. it kicks back in. and it did kick back in just in time because she was about ready to eat -- byron goes -- >> vice president kamala harris's running mate, tim walz addressing the reality of having that guy in the white house would be like. >> if this was your grandfather, you would take the keys away. you would take the keys away.

and i tell you this, look, this is -- it would be funny if this guy were not running for president of the united states. and it would be funny if you knew that this guy, if he shuts down like he did last night, you know he's doing that when he's sitting in the situation room or in briefings that are important. >> that's where we start the hour with nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard reporting from kingman, arizona, also joining us president and ceo of the planned parenthood action fund, alexis mcgill johnson and former chief republican strategist and senior adviser for the lincoln project, stewart stevens is here. alexis, let me start with you and the father of ivf. if you bought that, you probably know who you are voting for. but if you're a woman or a man or a son or a daughter or a mother or a grandmother or a grandfather and you think that at any point anyone you loved might want to grow a family and might have a challenge, donald

trump endangers ivf in america. and donald trump's abortion ban that donald trump's hand picked judges passed on the supreme court, is why that alabama court ended up where they did largely. talk about the threat he represents to fertility treatment in america if he's re-elected. >> look, absolutely. look, nicole, i'm still stuck on fantastically attractive. if anything he was -- i mean, seriously. like fantastically unhinged right now. i have no idea what that means to be the father of ivf when you just learned about something two minutes beforehand. what i do know is that weekend when that supreme court justice in the state of alabama came out with that ruling, really trying to lean into fetal personhood and starting a pathway to really undo our rights even further, you know, there were families that were waiting for embryo

transfers. you know, there were families that could not get those embryos out of state because the whole apparatus around the ivf structure got nervous because of the danger of these abortion bans and then the freedom that these judges who are propagating ideology well beyond ending abortion were starting to entail. so we know what is at stake in this election. we know that, you know, trump's abortion bans have put in jeopardy contraception and ivf. they have literally led to the deaths of people like amber thurman and candy miller. and we know they will go further, right? we know what is in project 2025, the pregnancy trackers czar, the surveillance. all the things we need to be deeply alarmed at and he is spouting this off as if he is some, i don't know, guru of ivf

when we all know the reality is he is so far behind with women that he knows this is politically untenable and he's desperate really. i think fantastically desperate is maybe where i would end. >> yeah. alexis, he was in front of his own supporters, a hand-picked group of trump supporters. so i don't know why he's trying to clean up the problem that he has around this issue. let me show you how vice president harris responded to those comments. >> well, about last night. so, donald trump -- i found it to be quite bizarre, actually called himself the father of ivf. and if what he meant is taking responsibility, well, then, yeah, he should take responsibility for the fact that one in three women in america lives in a trump abortion banned state. what he should take responsibility for is that couples who are praying and

hoping and working toward growing a family and have been so disappointed and harmed by the fact that ivf treatments have now been put at risk. >> this is before donald trump and before his hand-picked supreme court justices overturned a right we've had in this country for 50 years and then aggressively pursued more rights. this wasn't a partisan issue. ivf, if you needed it, it was a blessing that it existed, still very painful, still very expense i have but a blessing all the same. and it's how every sort of nontraditional family, every same sex couple has children. it is a lifeline. it is the reason so many people can be parents. and it seems like the ultimate hypocrisy that donald trump and his anti-family, anti-woman running mate are out there taking away this lifeline to having families. just talk about ivf as a motivator. what are you hearing from voters on the ground?

>> look, i was in arizona this week speaking to a woman who flew to new york to -- in essence to hold her embryos because she was so worried about donald trump winning this election and not being able to get them out of state. you know, she goes back and forth between texas and arizona. and she just said, you know, she had to choose, she was going to go to the place where it made the most sense for her to be able to continue her family. and she, you know, enumerated a number of reasons why ivf has been a savior for building her own family. and you know, i was grateful that she told her story. the reality is women shouldn't have to. we should not actually be living in a world where almost every state that i've been in over the last three weeks i wake up and my rights are different. right? i wake up when, you know, i go and visit my mother in georgia and my daughters suddenly have no rights, right?

and i think that it's both the ivf and the implication and it's also this re-enforcement of state's rights. the recognition that there's no world where you should have to travel to different states in order to get, you know, and not be able to get the same level of access to care. >> vaughn hillyard this is a bad political issue for donald trump that even donald trump knows it's a bad political issue for him. let me show you amber thurman's mom's heart break is something she's telling and something the harris campaign is sharing with voters including in georgia. >> my daughter amber made me so proud. >> she was having complications. >> and tonight we are learning more about the death of amber thurman. >> the death of amber thurman was likely preventable if she had access to abortion care in her home state of georgia. >> what happened to her was preventable. my daughter is gone because of

what donald trump did. >> for 54 years they were trying to get roe v. wade terminated, and i did it. and i'm proud to have done it. >> if nothing good enough to bring her back. her life is over. >> i've never been a political person, never. i'm voting for kamala harris because she showed me she really cared. i felt her sincerity. and i felt her strength. >> we will speak her name, amber nicole thurman. >> i felt her compassion. >> we will never get amber back. but we can make sure this never happens again. >> i'm kamala harris and i approve this message. >> vaughn hillyard, again, there are some reptilian survival skills that trump displays in his effort to be on six sides of an issue that he brags about owning. he brags about overturning roe. he's proud of doing it, he said. he said i overturned dogs. for 50 years they were trying to get roe v. wade terminated and i

did it. and i'm proud to have done it. that's his position. what is this sort of pretzel making all about on fox news's townhall? >> reporter: right. none of this would have happened if it weren't for donald trump winning the presidency in 2016 and those three conservative justices going on to the supreme court bench and then overturning roe v. wade. and donald trump, though, is wholly cognizant of the fact that this is not a winning political issue for him. and he watched in 2022 his hand-picked candidates from arizona, to georgia, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, one by one by one go down. and in the aftermath, donald trump didn't take ownership of -- or the blame for them being his maga-hand picked candidates or election deniers. instead, he placed the blame for those republicans losses on their position on abortion. and he said that they had too strict of positions.

and that was what cost them among the voting elect rat. so whether donald trump actually believed that or shift the blame, i can't get into donald trump's head. that's what he publicly said. what we have watched since those losses man on every other issue doesn't really stray away from the man who was on the campaign trail in 2016 and 2020. but on this issue, this is one where he sees himself down by 14 percentage points among women and nbc news new national poll. and that is a gender gap that is difficult to overcome. you can juice the support among males, black males, latino males, white males, young males, all you want. but if this is an issue that is not just women but also galvanizing a great many men, this is a recognition by him and his campaign that you can go on every bro, old version of masculinity podcast you want to try to draw men into the equation, but if you lose women

in such sizable ways that those gubernatorial and senate candidates did in the 2022 midterms donald trump will also go down in the presidential race. >> and in a good ray of light for the man is fear, stewart stevens, not all men are falling for it. i never thought they would. i thought they might be a sleeper vote out there. 59% of college educated white men voting for vice president kamala harris. so we talk about all of his strength and vaughn is right where he's spending all of his time. but it would be foolish to presume that he's winning everybody other simply by appearing that none of the people have access to the facts, which is donald trump's p position on roe is that he is, quote, proud to have done it, to have overturned roe v. wade. >> yeah. i think it really transcends what your position is for or against abortion. it's a referendum on decency and basic freedom. you know, this has been a right

now for two generations. and to have it taken away, i think has been so startling to people. you know, in the lincoln project, we identified this group of voters we called dobbs, dads to m mos and voters more conservative than not. many of whom would kick a box and say they were anti-abortion. but they are appalled by the specter of these strategies, of young girls having to cross state lines and then being prosecuted has happened. and it's just something that in a conservative way, if you think about it, nicole, all the ads we made as republicans against obamacare, was based on the premise that you don't want the government to get between you and your doctor. and that is exactly what the overturning of roe v. wade has done. and that same conservative sort of instinct that you could reach when you talked to them about national healthcare is at play here. and it's hurting trump with a lot of these voters. including a lot of men.

>> we have to sneak in a break. when we come back, i want to get all of you on the darker part of this story that we started with. and that's the -- what omarosa, kwho has known donald trump for a long time, describes as a pretty clear decline. i'm going to show it to you. we'll replay and let everybody decide. you're all sticking around. we'll also have much more on the dangers of trump's erratic behavior on all of us with 20 days to go before election day. later in the hour, how allies of the disgraced ex-president have laid the ground work of what will likely be another attempt to steal the election should he once again on election day. what everyone needs to know about the potential election crisis that could very well be heading our way. "deadline white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. ick break. don't go anywhere. g easier. react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. e*trade from morgan stanley

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when we were in the board room for the apprentice, donald came up with these very complicated figures. he could stand there and recall all of the details of a deal. and he would share those with us. and as time went on, particularly when i observed him in the first year when we were in the white house, donald was unable to recall basic figures. he would forget the name of his cabinet members. the reason donald trump is canceling these interviews is that when he starts to stumble, he starts to pivot. he wants to talk about you. he'll start attacking you, laura, instead of talking about policy issues because he can't recall what they are. he cannot repeat consistently his position on key issues, like the economy, like crime, or like immigration, that are key issues to voters. and that's what you're seeing in his decline right now.

>> we're back with vaughn, alexis and stuart. vaughn, i want to ask you about that but i want to give you a couple other public-facing things that the public has seen and ask you to sort of make sense with it for us with what you understand from the campaign. in the interview with laura ingram, where she tries three, four times to get him to say retribution and revenge, that's not what you're going to do, are you? and he doesn't take the sort of friendly, gently, maternal nudging off this very unpopular and alarming position. then at the chicago economic club, the questioner takes him through a question, he doesn't answer. steers him back to the question. he doesn't answer. he tries two and three times on multiple topics to steer him back to the question and trump just can't get there. trump himself has a name for it. he calls it, quote, the weave. tell me what you see in terms of donald trump's public appearances and how they differ from this period in 2015. >> reporter: donald trump is an older man who is not used to

being challenged anymore, nicole. ever since leaving the white house where he was surrounded by individuals from mark milley, to the likes of john kelly, right? rex tillerson, folks that would challenge him on policy and substance and other white house staff, alyssa farra, would be in there and question his policies and his positions. and since leaving, after january 6th and after the inauguration of joe biden, he went to mar-a-lago, he was surrounded by a small group who do not push back against his rhetoric, his positions. this is donald trump's campaign. and what you have watched manifest in the four years since is somebody who is appearing on the stage, campaign stage, much in the way that he appears at mar-a-lago or the one time i was on the plane after last year on his plane after his waco, texas, rally where january 6th footage played behind him. he got on his plane and everybody clapped and said,

great job, boss. great job. and you saw lindsey graham, just last week in bob woodward's book suggest it was north korea at mar-a-lago, a man who stands in applause. a man who surrounded himself by individuals who are subservient or who believe in the donald trump that we are watching run for president in 2024. and therefore what you saw in the bloomberg back and forth over the course of nearly an hour yesterday, was an interview that we have not been used to seeing. he declined to sit down with "60 minutes." and in the moments the press have been able to ask donald trump questions over the last four years, they have been far and few between the opportunity to actually follow up and challenge him on his first statement, which he so often wanders and veers off course and doesn't directly answer. that's what made that interview unique yesterday because it put him on his heels in a way that donald trump is not used to

hearing from those within his campaign or his allies or journalists who he has steered clear of having to answer consistent direct questions from. >> stuart stevens, how do you think the voters are experiencing? specifically when vice president harris says, go to his rallies and after the 39 minutes where he swayed to the music and danced awkwardly, quote, hope he's okay. >> yeah. i thought yesterday it was really remarkable how at the erie rally, they showed clips of trump rally. and i just would have liked to be the guy in the room who suggested that because, just such a simple, smart idea. we're going to do this. how do we do it? well, let's just show the guy and let people see it. because i think that what they're doing and doing it successfully is making this a referendum on trump. it's a contrast. one of these two will be president of the united states. which one do you want to get? and i always felt there were two essential qualities for the harris campaign. they had to represent the

future, which i think they're doing very well. and i was just stood up and cheered when they went with the don't go back whole line, which i think has been beautifully prosecuted. and the other is they have to be the safer choice than trump. and i think when you look at the structure of this campaign, there's about 53% of the country definitely nonmaga. and their job is to coalesce as much of that support as possible to support harris/walz. so what do we do? we wake up today in a world you have liz cheney and bernie sanders on the same side. that's a pretty big coalition. and i think that you look at these campaigns and you always ask the question, closing sports teams, who has composure? and i think the harris campaign definitely does. they're confident. you don't go into an interview if your not. and the trump campaign is just spinning up and up and up and getting more and more desperate. it's like he's addicted to this, so you need more and more. it's not enough to just say lock her up. now we have to say, military

tribunals and execute people. and it's not going to get better. today is the best day that donald trump was. tomorrow will be worse. and the next day will be worse. and it's just going to continue to decline. >> stuart, everything you know about sort of campaign -- winning campaigns in the closing days, what in your view is sort of the thing that you would pull out? would you show the country the sort of ied lonl kal diversity of her coalition? would you want to see dick cheney and bernie sanders in an ad together? what would you put in front of late deciders, disaffected independents? what would you put out there? >> i would try as much as possible to make this a referendum on patriotism. really if you believe in america, and you believe in the american experiment, what trump is representing is a complete departure from that. i mean, i just thought, if you take all of those greatest

generation who died and are buried in europe now, and brought them alive and looked at what he's doing in putin versus ukraine, and the fact that he's on the putin side, they would find this appalling. so i think the more that you can raise the stakes -- you know, there's a tremendous need -- and you talk about it a lot, it's fantastic you do -- to normalize this race as if it was romney and obama. it's not. yes, you have to talk about these issues like inflation and the border. it's important to do both. but you can't let it fall into a regular race. the night obama won, romney, campaign, were were tired, exhausted. we went to bed not fearing for the country. that's not what this race is about. that's how you end up with liz cheney and her father who we both worked for supporting harris. and i just think it shows the stakes of this race. and trump has always benefitted

from the inability to imagine him. you couldn't imagine a republican party in '16 nominating someone who talked in public about dating his daughter. but it happened. you couldn't imagine him winning, but it happened. you couldn't imagine if he lost by 7 million he couldn't accept it, but it happened. and i think we have to embrace this when thinking about what it would mean if trump won. and be prepared for what it's going to mean when he loses. because he will not accept the results. he's clear about that. >> really, really haunting and important final words. my thanks to all of you. vaughn hillyard, alexis mcgill johnson and stuart stevens. thank you so much for starting us off today. when we come back, how republicans have stockpiled new tools to do what stuart just described, to help overturn the results of the election in the event of a kamala harris/tim walz victory. top democratic election attorney, our friend marco will be our guest after a short break. saved hundreds.

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country. if i lose, i'll tell you what's possible because they cheat. that's the only way we're going to lose because they cheat. >> first the shot. donald trump has been not so quietly laying the groundwork to cry foul over the election results if he loses. now the chaser. his republican allies are already bombarding the courts with lawsuits in the home strep of the presidential campaign to make it easier to contest a victory by kamala harris. our friend warns "the new york times" today that, quote, republicans have spent the last four years going pro, meticulously devising a strategy across multiple fronts, state legislatures, congress, executive branchs, and elected judges to overturn any close election. in a world in which one party is still consumed by election fraud claims from 2020, and is prepared to claim the same in 2024, we have much to fear. but if m-aga election deniers

are more organized, democrats are also more prepared. yesterday in georgia, the judge sided with democrats lawsuit and blocked a rule passed by the right wing state election board requiring the hand counting of ballots. process that could take days and delay the certification of the election. and today, a federal judge in alabama sided with the justice department and civil rights groups blocking the voter removal program in the state. joining our conversation, voting rights attorney and founder of the site democracy docket mark elias is here. with me at the table, law professor at hofstra university, former attorney at the brennan center for justices democracy program, james sample is here. mark elias, i want to do two things. i want to ask you about what is new and then i want to sort of step back and just have you at this point -- let's do that first actually. after 2000, james baker and jimmy carter studied the issue of election fraud in america and

found that there isn't any. every time people look at the question -- and if you commit voter fraud, it's a crime. it's prosecuted. you get caught and you go to jail. the permeation of the lie is so deep that it is now a barrier of entry to even being a republican. talk about that dynamic as we are now 20 days out from election day. >> yeah. nicole, i think this is really important. and i think everyone needs to understand this. that there is a tent within the republican party to be in good standing. and you can actually disagree with donald trump's position on tariffs and still be in that tent. you can disagree with donald trump's position on climate and still be in that tent. you can disagree with donald trump's position on guns or abortions and still be in that tent. if, however, you have the temerity to say the truth, which is that donald trump lost the 2020 election, you are outside the tent.

like you are -- there's no room for you. it is the only non-negotiable issue in the republican party today. the only thing that you cannot say and be in good standing in donald trump's republican party, is that there is no widespread fraud in elections. that joe biden won the election in 2020. and that you will accept the results of the election in 2024. that's it. if you say any of those things you're out of bounds and anything else is fair game. >> and i just want -- you go in a voting booth and you have a piece of paper and it's a ballot and you vote on it. it's the same ballot that you're voting for congress. and were there any republican members of congress who thought that any of their votes on that same piece of paper were fraudulent that you remember, marc elias? >> no. i suggested the house and senate adopt a rule or congress pass a law after 2020. i wrote this in democracy docket in 2021 that says if you are a member of the house, and you

contest the outcome of the presidential election, in other words, you say there was fraud in pennsylvania, you were elected in pennsylvania, you don't get seated because the utter hypocrisy -- i mean, we are used to a lot of utter hypocrisy and inconsistency in the republican party, but the utter hypocrisy of 130 plus republicans voting against certification of elections when dozens and dozens of them had their elections certified and willingly took their seats in the house and the senate under those same terms, is just astounding. so i think it is -- i think it is something we have to call out and it is something that we should not accept in 2024. >> well, let me just -- i'm sorry to sort of beat this dead horse, but i think before we cover claims of fraud, we should be really clear that if a republican claims that there's a suitcase full of ballots, that can't be true if they don't also attack the veracity of every

other person on the ballot. to your point, for anyone in the media covers even a claim of fraud, suitcase full of ballots or usb drive, what they were complaining about was the answer on one line. they were not contesting ballots because the only reason every single republican in the house of representatives was sent back because they believed in the integrity of the ballots. so just a word on how to cover claims of voter fraud in the next 21 days. >> yeah. so i really hope that the media covers these with not a both sides mentality but a truth and falsity mentality because there are certain things that are just true and false. and the media knows how to do this. there are certain things that donald trump says that are simply not true. and there is nothing more important than to speak with moral clarity around elections. if donald trump is saying that mail-in voting is fraud, they

need to call that out and say that's false. because it is false. and it's provably false and there's no evidence on the other side. if donald trump says that, you know, the election results in 2020 were proven to be fraudulent, it is not enough to say, you know, as a kind of disclaimer against defamation, every expert who looked at this says that's not true. it is important they say declaratively, that is a lie. it is a lie. it is a lie when you say that the results of 2020 were fraudulent. it is a lie when you say that you won michigan and pennsylvania and wisconsin and georgia and arizona. and when your republican enablers say that you won, it is not a debaing point with them. it is a you are lying, period. >> so i wanted to look back before we look forward. there is some big news. that's why we have you guys for the rest of the hour.

but on this idea of the claims of fraud being covered in good faith when they're made in bad faith, the mechanism was to take these cases to court. and in court, trump lost 60 of 61 cases but that took a minute, right? so the lies spread around the world and through his base and they planned trips to washington for january 6th in the interim. talk about whether we're in any better position in the courts than we were four years ago. >> well, we're in a better position and we're in a worst position. we're in a better position because teams like marc's are so professional and are so prepared. and they did such a phenomenal job in 2020. so, they're more organized, they're more prepared. but the flip side is also true and the flip side is that 20 to was a dress rehearsal. 2020 was the middle school musical version of an insurrection. this time as neil's piece you led with in this segment indicates, this time they've professionalized the strategy.

this time the other side is prepared -- the preparation is to create chaos now. marc talks about three different stages of this process. and i think of it as a before, during and after. and if you think about the before, where we are right now, all of these lawsuits, the rnc has filed something like 126 lawsuits in 26 different states where it's involved in 126 lawsuits. those are designed primarily as press releases. they're designed to plant the seeds of doubt now, to sew those seeds of doubt, then to -- the during, intimidate the voters, manipulate through what used to be nonpartisan processes of election administration and which are now installed with political partisans, who believe in that lie that marc was just described about 2020 and then the after. the after is to build on the foundation of all of those seeds that you've planted. and that you frankly curated between now and the election.

we're in a better position because teams like marc's are prepared. but we're in a worse position because those who are seeking to derail the process -- you know, courts are going to play a role and lawyers are going to play a role. the optimistic take here is that voters get to fly the plane. and unless we get 537 vote margins like we did in florida in 2000, voters, more than courts and lawyers, are going to decide this election. they have the potential to decide this election. we've seen extraordinary turnout already. but the reality here -- we cannot have rose colored glasses. the reality here is 2020 was disorganized. 2024 is organized. the attempted revolution may not be as televised this time. but it is going to be organized. >> all right, you guys just shattered my rose colored glasses. i want to drill down on where some of the heat is this week. no one is going where. we have to sneak in a short break before we do that. we'll be right back. break before we do that. we'll be right back.

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america's hitler and cultural heroin, but says that donald trump did not lose by the words that i know to be words. marc, this is what you're up against, as james said you're better prepared but perhaps under a bigger onslaught. talk about the state of the legal cases. >> yeah, there's no question that the republican party made a concerted effort coming into this year to file a flood of litigation. you know, we have already seen more litigation in 2024 than we have ever seen in any single year in american history involving elections and voting. and that includes 2020. like by far. and we're only the middle of october. and much of it is coming from the republican the republican party and a vast web of right-wing allies funded by dark money. there's a lot of it and it is a flood and it is definitely trying to set up for the post election. what i will say is we have also learned from the tactics that

they envisioned in 2020 and we beat them then and in 2022 and i expect that you will see democrats and progressive organizations ready for them again in 2024. it doesn't mean we're taking it lightly and it doesn't mean we're not taking it seriously. i want everyone to know, if they cast their ballot and they vote, there are going to be lawyers who will make sure that their vote counts and the election is certified. they refused to certify the election in arizona and we won. those people are by the way, indicted. when they did it, we won. my message to republicans is you believe file these lawsuits. you won't win them and in the end, donald trump will lose. >> and the state of cycle bears that out. >> that's right. in the last couple of days there have been a number of significant victories. it is unfortunate. it takes time and energy to fight against the onslaught, as you put it.

in the last couple of days, consecutive days of victories in georgia if you are a pro voter participation individual, one involving the requirement that the election board, the state election board which has been taken over by a 3-2 mega majority in which there is even dissension among gop members on the board but which maga has on a lockdown. the district court judge, the fulton county judge robert mcbernie struck down the requirement, the new rule that said that the election board didn't have to certify the results. yes, they do have to certify the results. and fortunately, the secretary of state who we got to know real well in 2020 was ready to say the exact same thing, and then the hand-counting rule, georgia had imposed this draconian hand count which was not designed to solve a problem. it was created to create a problem to say look, there is a problem.

just today in the northern district of alabama, a federal district judge granted a preliminary injunction against a voter rule purge in the state of alabama. it is parallel to one being undertaken by glenn youngkin in virginia. and the guys, the pretext for these voter role purges, within the 90-day quiet period under the voter registration act, the pretext for these, the claim justification is to prevent noncitizens, to prevent illegal immigrants from voting. that is not happening. it's not happening because it is a crime at the federal level. it is a crime at every state. if you commit it, you can be committed for five years and you can be deported. when you vote, if you were to do those things, you're creating the very record that would be the basis of your charge. all to get one vote.

it's not happening. but under the pretext of preventing that, we're disenfranchising legitimate american citizens who have a right to vote. >> just a web of lies from republicans afraid the face the voters is unbelievable. an incredible projection of weakness. we'll keep doing this until we get all the facts out there. thank you so much. another break for us. we'll be right back. right back.

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if you're not sure if you're going to vote or not and you need a little inspiration, how is this? former president jimmy carter has voted, fulfilling his wish, getting to live long enough to cast his ballot for vice president harris. he told his family that he was more interested in voting for the vice president than in his 100th birthday earlier this month. today we learned that he filled out a ballot for harris that was put in the drop box at the county courthouse near his home town of plains, georgia. his son chip told the atlanta journal constitution this. quote, i think he feels good. it was a good morning for him and good for us that he got it done. chip carter said his father absolutely voted for harris, adding that he's never voted for a republican in his life. another break for us. we'll be right back. ...and bowl games! speaking of, frank run a slant to the bowl of chips. bobby, button-hook to the salsa. what are you gonna do coach prime? don't question your coach, man.

letting us into your homes during this time. "the beat" starts now. >> welcome to "the beat." i'm ari melber. our first guest is pulitzer prize winning journalist and author bob woodward who is upending politics with this new book. it is including trump's secret putin outreach. a rebuke from the highest ranking u.s. general echoing there on the campaign trail. it is also a woodward scoop. there's the concern about trump in what are often traditional circles of american politics. and that is fitting with kamala harris's pitch right now tay